Four simple questions to bring you more referrals

A couple of weeks back, I was eating lunch with a business colleague I’ve known for years when she asked “What is it exactly that you can do for my clients?”

We talk all the time about why ‘referral clients’ are the best clients. We know why we want them and having clients referred to you is a whole lot easier than cold calling, don’t you think?

Like you, I know we have to be worthy of referrals and prepared to ask for them, but there’s also another step that is often overlooked. The clue is in the question above – a question we might be too embarrassed to ask because we believe we should already know the answer. You know it’s true!

Is it possible your clients and centres of influence could be thinking the same question about you, but are too embarrassed to ask?

Here are four simple questions to help you clarify what your referrers need to know about what you do before they can give you quality referrals. The answers are mine, for Balance at Work. I hope you can use them as a model your own “Referrer Education Program”.

1. Who do we help?

Established, professional and successful organisations and individuals who are ready to take their performance to the next level. Our clients:

Care about people;

Made poor choices in the past;

Want to change;

Are open to new ideas and

Committed to taking action.

2. What do we do for them?

We make managing and leading easier with simple tools and programs that deliver benchmarked performance excellence for:

Hiring and promoting staff;

Developing and coaching individuals and teams;

Measuring and rewarding performance;

Managing and developing careers;

Planning succession.

3. How do we do it?

We make people management best practices easily accessible and affordable for any organisation with staff.

Real coaching for real people and real teams. We listen. We don’t try to push clients into one standard model.

Advice based on years of experience, observation, study and continuous learning. We remove the guesswork and uncertainty.

Referrals to specialists who meet our clients’ unique requirements. When we don’t have the expertise they need, we send them to someone who does.

4. Why should they choose to work with us?

As one client told us recently: “You do something others don’t do and you do it extremely well”. We offer:

Excellence, expertise and experience that make a difference; and

We won’t waste their time, energy or money.

THE BOTTOM LINE: When you have your answers, let us know. We may be able to refer you!

About Susan Rochester

BSc MHRM FIML
Susan Rochester has been managing director of Balance at Work since 2006. Susan has a natural tendency to balance analytical thinking with an optimistic outlook to set direction and solve problems. She is an effective facilitator and constantly creates new and more effective ways of doing things, motivated by helping others to achieve their goals.

What they say about us

"The last couple of years at batyr has seen incredible growth and the Balance at Work team has supported us along the way. They have helped us improve leadership skills across the team by helping us source and manage mentors, and even engaging as mentors themselves. As a young and fresh CEO Susan has also supported me personally with genuine feedback and fearless advice to achieve great things.​"

Sam Refshauge - CEO, batyr

"We used the Harrison Assessment tools followed by a debrief with Susan, for career development with staff, which then allowed us to work with Susan to create a customised 360 degree review process. Susan has a wealth of knowledge and is able to offer suggestions and solutions for our company. She is always ready to get involved and takes the time to show her clients the capability of Harrison Assessments. ​"

Jessica Hill - Head of People and Culture, Choice

"Balance at Work are the ideal external partners for us as they completely get what we are trying achieve in the People and Culture space. Their flexibility and responsiveness to our needs has seen the entire 360 approach being a complete success. The online tool and the follow up coaching sessions have been game changers for our business. The buzz in the organisation is outstanding. Love it! Thanks again for being such a great support crew on this key project."

Chris Bulmer - National GM Learning and Development, ISS Australia

"We use Harrison Assessments with our clients to support their recruitment processes. We especially value the comprehensive customisable features that allow us to ensure the best possible fit within a company, team and position. Balance at Work is always one phone call away. We appreciate their valuable input and their coaching solutions have also given great support to our clients."

Benoit Ribe - HR Solutions Manager, Polyglot Group

"The leadership team at Insurance Advisernet engaged Susan from Balance at Work to run our leadership development survey and learning sessions. Susan was very professional in delivering the team and individual strengths and opportunities for growth. Susan's approach was very "non corporate" in style which was refreshing to see. I can't recommend Balance at Work more highly to lead employee and team development sessions."